Rob Lang's Blog

Monday, December 27, 2010

Xtranormal On Journalism

Just in the last few weeks I've discovered a new online video site called Xtranormal.

The site has been around since 2008. You submit a script to the Xtranormal, and they animate, voice it, and put it online. The animation looks like "South Park." The voices are dry and robotic, but the site works if the scripts are snarky and sarcastic.

The videos will deal with anything, including various professions.

In the last few weeks the people at Xtranormal have turned their attention to journalism.

The site has two hilarious videos on my profession. The first deals with newspapers.

At WBAL we have been lucky to have some terrific interns who are now gainfully employed in print, online or broadcast journalism.

RhethaColclasure, a University of Maryland graduate, interned in the WBAL Radio Newsroom in 2005. She is now a very successful television reporter for KFYR-TV, the NBC affiliate in Bismarck, North Dakota.

At patch.com, former WBAL interns Nick DiMarco and Tyler Waldman serve as reporters at the website that provides the community news. Nick covers Timonium. Tyler covers Towson. Both are Towson University graduates. Their Baltimore County editor is Maryland's Morning News contributor Bryan Sears.

The current editor-in-chief of The Towerlight, Towson University's student newspaper, is Daniel Gross who was an intern for us this summer and on Election Night.

Finally, another former WBAL Radio intern and Towson graduate Ashley Rabe, works in the WBAL-TV newsroom.

Let us not forget another former WBAL intern, who 31-years later is now the Director of News and Programming. That's right Mark Miller started his WBAL career as an intern.

All of these interns started their careers at WBAL Radio and have entered the profession with eyes wide open.